Blogs, Twitter, the Internet, and Citizen Journalism

I was reading my regular news sources and came across this article:

Mumbai Attack Aftermath Detailed, Tweet by Tweet


While the title may seem insensitive or even offensively flippant given the nature of the Mumbai tragedy, the article itself tackles something interesting - the rise of citizen journalism and how it's empowered by the Internet's many tools.

In one of my short stories (awaiting publication), I tackled how this might unravel in the Philippine setting with a thriller / conspiracy / mundane SF slant, but what's happening in Mumbai and on the 'Net is different. It's awe-inspiring because of how many different people posting articles (even just updating their twitter accounts), updating Wikipedia, creating Google Maps, and uploading pictures to Flickr, can give a very broad and deep (if somewhat questionable in terms of authenticity or impartiality) view of what is unfolding RIGHT NOW.

For Kate, Dean, Nikki, Andrew, Vinnie: Oh! Tokyo

Dean mentioned just last LitCrit session his fascination with the show Oh! Tokyo, a show that I also enjoyed watching here on Philippine TV when I'd first returned from abroad.

If you're ready for a trip down memory lane, and have the bandwidth to download 400MB episodes, I give you a page where you can give these episodes a special place on your laptop or external hard drive: http://www.wins-tv.jp/onlinetv.html#no2

Sadly, I can't find season 1, and season 3 is listed as coming soon.

Oh Really? Suspicious indeed

More from the news: Sulpicio Lines is filing suit against Pagasa

Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the M/V Princess of the Stars that sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, filed yesterday a P4.4-million damage suit against the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) for gross incompetence and irresponsibility for allegedly providing inaccurate weather forecast on typhoon “Frank.”

Lawyers of the company, represented by its first vice president Edgar Go, filed the civil suit at the Manila Regional Trial Court against the weather bureau and two of the agency’s officials, Pagasa director Prisco Nilo and Nathaniel Cruz, weather services chief.

The officials of Sulpicio Lines blamed the weather bureau for its alleged failure to accurately predict the path of the typhoon that caused the Princess of the Stars to sink off Romblon at the height of the storm last June 21.

More than 140 bodies have been recovered while hundreds remain missing. More than 50 survivors were rescued.

Apparently, they blame Pagasa for not warning them correctly / on time about the storm.

Is it Pagasa's fault for not warning them about the strength, direction, and path of the storm?

First off, I don't know too many people who put 100% faith in the predictions of any weather service. Possibly because we see over and over that such predictions are not entirely accurate, if at all. Furthermore, I would think that the fundamental unpredictability of the weather has been hammered home to people who watch the Discovery Channel, to people who check weather forecasts daily, and to people whose livelihoods are highly dependent on weather conditions.

Second, how many other ships were sent out in that storm? How many other ships decided against going out to sea in stormy weather, whether or not they were adequately warned by Pagasa?

Third, how many times has this happened to Sulpicio's ships?